Gondor Gambolling 78: In which Gryfflet makes an exceptionally large friend
5Gryfflet has been taking the waters in the baths of Aelin Veren but is happy enough to resume operations. Maendal has been waiting more or less patiently for us to interrogate his prisoners: he also wants us to fetch them a drink as his men have been too busy. We approach the first prisoner who is not inclined to cooperate, and things are not improved when one of his colleagues who escaped capture attempts to ambush us. The second prisoner is more reasonable, not least because he is worried about his friend…who turns out to be the Mûmak observed by Sam and Frodo: he wants us to collect some roots that the Mûmak likes and use them to entice him to safety. While we fetch the water the Professor explains why he loves this kind of quest. We interrogate more prisoners, telling them about the battles on the Pelennor, and calm the Rangers down after their earlier disturbance. The Haradrim leader has some warning banners that he wants us to plant, to tell his fellows to return home, and Maendal reluctantly agrees, so we set off southwards to find ideal places to plant banners while the Professor explains why the Mûmak-saving mission is so cleverly contrived. Planting accomplished we turn northwards, and meet Dornach, our Ranger contact, who is ready to conduct us to the hidden outpost at Henneth Annûn, but we ask for a rain-check while we complete our current tasks, not to mention our current discussion. Amazingly enough the Mûmak materialises from behind a tree as our discussion continues, so we proceed to lure it towards the marshes and comparative safety by crushing the roots on convenient stones. At the final stone, the immense beast takes the last of the roots from Gryfflet's hand and wanders into the marsh, allegedly frolicking in the shallows. Since we are in the approximate vicinity Gryfflet decides to locate Jarl Gurthilm as agreed and discovers that he has been betrayed by his erstwhile employer. We scout the nearby area for him, and our return he enlists Gryfflet's help in taking revenge, which we defer to a more appropriate time. We jump back to Aelin Veren to report our various successes whereupon the captive war-master divulges the information he promised and Maendal thanks us for our help. Gryfflet sets out to find Dornach and he blindfolds us for the journey to Henneth Annûn. This apparently causes no small amount of hilarity among those Rangers who have already met Gryfflet which cushions the impact of a quest which might not be as welcome as most. Thurindol welcomes Gryfflet to the refuge and passes him through to Anborn and Mablung who are equally welcoming. They have tasks for him including collecting kingsfoil and toad-slime from the surrounding countryside, laying traps, and running patrols, but first they have news for us of their encounters with Frodo and Sam which take up the rest of the session: we see their initial meeting and the arrival of the Mûmak and discuss how the game fits this into the ongoing story.
"That is so cool!"
"This is not just a potential banner location, this one is optimised!"
"How calm are you? Scale of 1–10…"
"That is a deep cut, and I think it is entirely awesome!"
"He's a Mûmak and could be anywhere…they are so hard to find! This quest is so unfair, he could be in any of those trees!"
"If I am to have any hope of finding the correct shrubbery in which this Mûmak is doubtless hiding…"
"Have I done this? Yes, I have!"
"'Keep your distance'? Well, you don't have to tell me that!"
"Fair warning, Mûmak coming through!"
"Am I a completionist or am I a completionist?"
"Now I'm supposed to dope up a troll with toad-juice?"
Lore discussed this week included a brief mention of the legendary minstrel Maglor and some of the background to how the game adapts the story. The Professor refers to his reading of JRRT's poem "Iumbo, or Ye Kinde of Ye Oliphaunt" for this year's Tolkien Reading Day, and explains why finding a Mûmak is quite so difficult.
"Tolkien Reading Day 2024 with Dr. Corey Olsen": https://youtu.be/na4-hnUBfkA